The present exemplary embodiment relates to printing systems. It finds particular application in conjunction with adjusting image quality in print or marking systems with multiple marking engines. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
Document processing systems that include a plurality of marking engines provide increased production speed. In such systems, quality of printing from one engine to another is of great concern. Subtle changes that may be unnoticed in the output of a single marking engine can be highlighted in the output of a multi-engine marking system. For example, the facing pages of an opened booklet rendered or printed by a multi-engine printing system can be printed by different engines. For instance, the left-hand page in an open booklet may be printed by a first print engine while the right-hand page is printed by a second print engine. The first print engine may be printing images in a manner slightly darker than the ideal and well within a single engine tolerance; while the second print engine may be printing images in a manner slightly lighter than the ideal and also within the single engine tolerance. While an observer might not ever notice the subtle variations when reviewing the output of either engine alone, when the combined output is compiled and displayed adjacently, the variation in intensity from one marking engine to another may become noticeable and be perceived as an issue of quality by a user.
More problems arise in the multi-engine systems which include a mix of color and monochrome marking engines. The image quality in the product produced by monochrome and color printers may differ due to several factors. For example, the color printers are typically darker, produce more gloss, and characterized by higher halftone frequency. One approach to improve image consistency between color and monochrome engines is to reduce the gamut of the color marking engine to match closely the gamut of the monochrome marking engine. However, in such approach, the color intensity of the color printer is also reduced.
There is a need for methods and apparatuses that overcome the aforementioned problems and others.